Sealing element for diverter valve

ABSTRACT

Provided is a sealing element for a diverter valve, in which the sealing member is provided inside an upper portion of a diverter valve to prevent mud from being ejected upward as well as to increase durability, reduce manufacturing cost, and facilitate maintenance work, wherein the diverter valve prevents the mud from flowing backward into a drill pipe provided outside a drill bit and rising, prevents the rising mud from being ejected into a drilling site, and diverts a direction of the mud to refine and reuse the mud in the process of forming an oil well during drilling. Further, a plurality of recessed grooves is formed in the inner surface of the body, so that drilling operation time may be increased by minimizing damage and deformation, and the sealing element is constituted by a plurality of unit bodies, whereby manufacturing and maintenance costs may be reduced.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2017-0041509, filed Mar. 31, 2017, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein for all purposes by this reference. This application relates to a project for “high pressure diverter for controlling oil well for offshore plant” which is performed by Sandong Metal Industry from Mar. 1, 2016 to Dec. 31, 2018 as a research project of “consumer-connected technology development business” supervised by the Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology within the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a sealing element used in a diverter valve. More particularly, the present invention relates to a sealing element for a diverter valve, in which the sealing member is provided inside an upper portion of a diverter valve to prevent mud from being ejected upward as well as to increase durability, reduce manufacturing cost, and facilitate maintenance work, wherein the diverter valve prevents the mud from flowing backward into a drill pipe provided outside a drill bit and rising, prevents the rising mud from being ejected into a drilling site, and diverts a direction of the mud so as to refine and reuse the mud in the process of forming an oil well by rotation of the drill bit during drilling.

Description of the Related Art

Due to rapid international industrialization and industrial development, the use of earth resources such as petroleum is gradually increasing, and thus the stable production and supply of crude oil is becoming a very important issue on a global scale.

For this reason, the development of minor marginal oil fields or deep-sea oil fields, which have been neglected due to economic infeasibility, has become economically feasible in recent years. Therefore, along with the development of submarine mining technology, a drillship provided with drilling facilities suitable for the development of such oilfields has been developed.

A riser and a moon pool where the drill pipe moves up and down are provided in the center of the drillship, and a derrick is provided on the deck of the drillship, where various drilling rigs are concentrated.

Further, a drill bit is installed at the end of the drill pipe, and mud is used as the drilling fluid for the drilling operation of the drill bit. The mud is stored in a mud tank and circulated by a mud pump.

Meanwhile, the diverter valve used for drilling is installed on a drillship and a jack-up rig, and diverts the movement direction of the mud returning from the oil well, that is, the direction of movement of the rising mud to a refinement site when the oil well loses its control function, so as to refine and reuse the mud.

Here, in the diverter valve, a sealing element is used to prevent the rising mud from being ejected, wherein the sealing element seals between a kelly (a rod pipe with a square or octagonal cross-section attached to the top of the excavation tube in a rotary excavation) or the drill pipe and a wellbore, and as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, when a lower portion of a body 130′ is pressurized by a hydraulic driven piston (not shown), a plurality of sealing wings 120′ provided in an upper portion of the body is moved inward and is brought into close contact with each other, thereby maintaining a seal.

However, since the sealing element must withstand the strong pressure of the returning mud, there is a problem that it must be periodically replaced because it is continuously pressurized to the extreme state and damaged or deformed, and since the materials used are high cost and manufacturing cost is high, the cost of drilling operation due to replacement is increased.

The foregoing is intended merely to aid in the understanding of the background of the present invention, and is not intended to mean that the present invention falls within the purview of the related art that is already known to those skilled in the art.

Documents of Related Art

(Patent Document 1) Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2015-0043783

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the related art that a sealing element of a conventional diverter valve used for drilling is continuously pressurized to the extreme state and damaged or deformed, and the present invention is intended to propose a sealing element for a diverter valve, in which recessed grooves are provided in an inner surface thereof to reduce deformation, and the sealing element is constituted by a plurality of unit bodies, thereby facilitating maintenance work and increasing durability, and thus manufacturing and replacement costs are reduced.

In order to achieve the above object, there is provided a sealing element for a diverter valve, in which the sealing element is provided inside the diverter valve that diverts mud returning from an oil well to prevent the mud from being ejected during drilling, the sealing element including: a body formed at a center thereof with a through-hole with a drill pipe passing therethrough, and provided with a plurality of sealing wings being configured such that lower ends thereof are integrally formed on an outer circumferential surface of the body, and upper ends thereof are bent inward to protrude, wherein the body includes a plurality of recessed grooves provided on an inner surface of the through-hole in a vertical direction.

Further, the recessed grooves may include: a plurality of upper recessed grooves provided on an upper boundary between an upper surface of the body and the inner surface of the through-hole; and a plurality of lower recessed grooves provided on a lower boundary between a lower surface of the body and the inner surface of the through-hole. The upper recessed grooves and the lower recessed grooves may be configured such that widths thereof are gradually narrow toward lower and upper portions of the inner surface of the through-hole, respectively.

Further, the body may include a plurality of unit bodies, with one sealing wing provided in each of the unit bodies, and the unit bodies may be configured such that each of the unit bodies is brought into close contact with a side of a neighboring unit body to form the through-hole.

According to the sealing element for a diverter valve of present invention, since a plurality of recessed grooves is formed in the inner surface of the body, drilling operation time can be increased by minimizing damage and deformation during pressurization by the piston, and since the sealing element is constituted by a plurality of unit bodies, it is possible to reduce maintenance cost as well as manufacturing cost.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGS. 1A and 1B are a perspective view and a sectional view showing a conventional sealing element;

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view showing a diverter valve;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a sealing element according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view showing the sealing element according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the sealing element according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view showing the sealing element according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a sealing element used in a diverter valve. More particularly, the present invention relates to a sealing element for a diverter valve, in which the sealing member is provided inside an upper portion of a diverter valve 10 to prevent mud from being ejected upward as well as to increase durability, reduce manufacturing cost, and facilitate maintenance work, and accordingly it is possible to reduce overall loss cost, wherein the diverter valve prevents the mud from flowing backward into a drill pipe 20 provided outside a drill bit and rising, prevents the rising mud from being ejected into a drilling site, and diverts a direction of the mud so as to refine and reuse the mud in the process of forming an oil well by rotation of the drill bit (not shown) during drilling.

Further, the sealing element for a diverter valve of the present invention is advantageous in that durability is increased to increase the operation rate of the drilling, that is, the drilling operation, thereby achieving the overall cost saving effect in the drilling operation.

To achieve the above object, there is provided a sealing element for a diverter valve, in which the sealing element 100 is provided inside the diverter valve 10 that diverts mud returning from an oil well to prevent the mud from being ejected during drilling, the sealing element 100 including: a body 130 configured such that a through-hole 110 with a drill pipe 20 passing therethrough is formed at a center thereof, and provided with a plurality of sealing wings 120 being configured such that lower ends thereof are integrally formed on an outer circumferential surface of the body, and upper ends thereof are bent inward to protrude, wherein the body 130 includes a plurality of recessed grooves 132 formed in an inner surface 112 of the through-hole 110 in a vertical direction.

Further, the recessed grooves 132 of the present invention include: a plurality of upper recessed grooves 132 a formed on an upper boundary 140 between an upper surface 133 of the body 130 and the inner surface 112 of the through-hole 110; and a plurality of lower recessed grooves 132 b formed on a lower boundary 150 between a lower surface 134 of the body 130 and the inner surface 112 of the through-hole 110, wherein the upper recessed grooves 132 a and the lower recessed grooves 132 b are configured such that widths thereof are gradually narrow toward lower and upper portions of the inner surface 112 of the through-hole 110, respectively.

Further, the present invention may be configured such that the body 130 includes a plurality of unit bodies 135, with one sealing wing 120 formed in each of the unit bodies, and the unit bodies 135 are configured such that a unit body 135 is brought into close contact with a side of a neighboring unit body 135 to form the through-hole 110.

Hereinbelow, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 2 to 6 showing an embodiment of the present invention.

Firstly, the diverter valve 10 used for drilling is installed on a drillship and a jack-up rig, and mud, which is used as a drilling fluid between a drill bit (not shown) and a drill pipe 20, is used for drilling to form an oil well. The diverter valve diverts the movement direction of the mud returning from the oil well, that is, the direction of movement of the rising mud to a refinement site (not shown) when the oil well loses its control function, so as to refine and reuse the mud.

Here, to efficiently divert the movement direction of the mud by preventing the mud from being ejected upward, as shown in FIG. 2, the diverter valve 10 is configured such that the sealing element 100 is provided in a hemispherical sealing space (not shown) formed in an upper portion of the diverter valve, and the sealing element 100 is pressed upward by a piston 12, thereby forming a seal between the drill pipe 20 and the diverter valve 10.

In this regard, the sealing element 100, which is a main component of the present invention, is configured as follows.

As described above, the sealing element is provided in the hemispherical sealing space formed in the upper portion of the diverter valve 10 that diverts the direction of the mud returning from the oil well from being ejected into a drilling site during drilling, and is configured to seal between the diverter valve 10 and the diverter valve 10 such that the mud returning from the oil well, that is, the mud rising through the drill pipe 20 is prevented from being ejected upward when the oil well loses its control function.

To be more specific, the sealing element 100 of the present invention includes the body 130 configured such that the through-hole 110 with the drill pipe 20 passing therethrough is formed at the center thereof, and provided with a plurality of sealing wings 120 being configured such that lower ends thereof are integrally formed on an outer circumferential surface of the body, and upper ends thereof are bent inward to protrude.

In other words, as shown in FIG. 3, the sealing element 100 of the present invention is formed to have a donut-shaped cross-section, that is, a flat section such that the drill pipe 20 is installed through the through-hole 110 formed at the center thereof.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the sealing element 100 of the present invention is provided with a plurality of sealing wings 120 being configured such that the lower ends thereof are integrally formed on the outer circumferential surface of the body, and the upper ends thereof are bent inward, that is, toward the through-hole 110 to protrude, wherein the plurality of sealing wings 120 is the main component forming the seal between the diverter valve 10 and the drill pipe 20.

Additionally, the diverter valve 10 is configured such that when the drill bit and the drill pipe 20 are rotated together during drilling, that is, the drilling operation, the mud that is a drilling fluid in the drill pipe 20 is moved upward by the soil by the drilling operation and is discharged inside the diverter valve 10 through a discharge groove (not shown) formed in the upper side of the drill pipe 20 to maintain the pressure inside the drill pipe 20, and since the mud discharged inside the diverter valve 10 is moved to the upper portion of the diverter valve 10 even when a side flow valve (not shown) is opened, the piston 12 is operated to press the sealing element 100 upward to form a seal.

Here, the sealing element 100 of the present invention is moved to the upper portion of the sealing space when the lower portion thereof is pressed by the piston 12, and the sealing wings 120 are bent toward the center along the inner surface of the sealing space to be brought into close contact with each other, thereby forming a seal.

In other words, the sealing element 100 of the present invention is in a state of being pressed by the piston 12 during drilling operation, that is, in a closed state in which a seal is formed, and as a result, the sealing element 100, which is pressed to the limit, is damaged and deformed during drilling operation.

Thereby, the body 130 of the sealing element 100 of the present invention minimizes the strain by the plurality of recessed grooves 132 formed in the inner surface 112 of the through-hole 110 in the vertical direction, so that the durability may be increased.

Further, the sealing element 100 of the present invention is improved in durability by the recessed grooves 132, thereby realizing an effect of improving the operation rate of the drilling operation to reduce the cost required for the drilling operation. In addition, since the mold is manufactured so that only the recessed grooves 132 are added in the conventional shape, the manufacturing process is not added and the amount of the material is small, the manufacturing cost is also reduced.

In this regard, the recessed grooves 132 include: the plurality of upper recessed grooves 132 a formed on the upper boundary 140 between the upper surface 133 of the body 130 and the inner surface 112 of the through-hole 110; and the plurality of lower recessed grooves 132 b formed on the lower boundary 150 between the lower surface 134 of the body 130 and the inner surface 112 of the through-hole 110.

In other words, the recessed grooves 132 are not formed in the entire inner surface 112 of the through-hole 110 in the vertical direction, as shown in FIG. 3, but configured such that the upper recessed grooves 132 a are formed on the upper boundary 140, which is the edge where the upper surface 133 of the body 130 and the inner surface 112 of the through-hole 110 are connected to each other, and the lower recessed grooves 132 b are formed on the lower boundary 150, which is the edge where the lower surface 134 of the body 130 and the inner surface 112 of the through-hole 110 are connected to each other, whereby it is possible to maintain the rigidity of the sealing element 100 and increase the durability against damage and deformation.

Further, the recessed grooves 132 are characterized in that the number of the upper recessed grooves 132 a is greater than the number of the lower recessed grooves 132 b, which is because the sealing space of the diverter valve 10 has a spherical shape, when the lower portion of the body 130 of the sealing element 100 is pressed, the upper portion of the body 130 has a larger strain than the lower portion thereof. Therefore, it is preferred that the number of the upper recessed grooves 132 a is greater than the number of the lower recessed grooves 132 b.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the upper recessed grooves 132 a and the lower recessed grooves 132 b are characterized in that the widths thereof are gradually narrow toward the lower and upper portions of the inner surface 112 of the through-hole 110, respectively, which prevents the rigidity of the body 130 from not being significantly lowered compared with the rigidity of the conventional body because the middle portion of the body 130 has a smaller strain in the vertical direction than the strain in the lateral direction, and also realizes the effect of minimizing the damage to the upper boundary 140 and the lower boundary 150 having a relatively high rate of change.

In this regard, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the body 130 may include the plurality of unit bodies 135, with one sealing wing 120 formed in each of the unit bodies, wherein a unit body 135 is brought into close contact with a side of a neighboring unit body 135 to form the through-hole 110.

In other words, the body 130 is characterized in that a plurality of unit bodies 135 is gathered to form the body and one unit body 135 is continuously disposed on one side of another unit body 135 to be brought into close contact with each other.

Additionally, the sealing element 100 of the present invention is advantageous in that since the body 130 is constituted by the plurality of unit bodies 135, any one unit body 135 damaged after the drilling operation can be separately replaced, thereby reducing replacement cost, since one unit body 135 having a predetermined shape is manufactured and assembled to another unit body, that is, brought into close contact with another unit body, the size of the mold is reduced, so that the manufacturing cost can be reduced, and since failure occurs in any one of the unit bodies 135, which is not the all of the unit bodies, so that it is possible to reduce the loss cost due to failure occurrence.

Here, by the characteristics of rubber material, the sealing of the contact portions of the plurality of unit bodies 135 of the body 130 is the same as the integrally formed body 130.

Further, the plurality of unit bodies 135 are formed with recessed grooves 132, respectively, and preferably, that the recessed grooves 132 are formed not in all of the unit bodies 135, but only in a part thereof is advantageous in maintaining rigidity and minimizing damage and deformation.

Although a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A sealing element for a diverter valve, in which the sealing element (100) is provided inside the diverter valve (10) that diverts mud returning from an oil well to prevent the mud from being ejected during drilling, the sealing element (100) comprising: a body (130) formed at a center thereof with a through-hole (110) with a drill pipe (20) passing therethrough, and provided with a plurality of sealing wings (120) being configured such that lower ends thereof are integrally formed on an outer circumferential surface of the body, and upper ends thereof are bent inward to protrude, wherein the body (130) includes a plurality of recessed grooves (132) provided on an inner surface (112) of the through-hole (110) in a vertical direction.
 2. The sealing element of claim 1, wherein the recessed grooves (132) include: a plurality of upper recessed grooves (132 a) provided on an upper boundary (140) between an upper surface (133) of the body (130) and the inner surface (112) of the through-hole (110); and a plurality of lower recessed grooves (132 b) provided on a lower boundary (150) between a lower surface (134) of the body (130) and the inner surface (112) of the through-hole (110).
 3. The sealing element of claim 2, wherein the upper recessed grooves (132 a) and the lower recessed grooves (132 b) are configured such that widths thereof are gradually narrow toward lower and upper portions of the inner surface (112) of the through-hole (110), respectively.
 4. The sealing element of claim 1, wherein the body (130) includes a plurality of unit bodies (135), with one sealing wing (120) provided in each of the unit bodies, and the unit bodies (135) are configured such that each of the unit bodies (135) is brought into close contact with a side of a neighboring unit body (135) to form the through-hole (110). 